Summit Lathe with Leaky Headstock

As the others have said look at it closely after wiping it clean. Many time oil leaks come from over filling the headstock because the oil site glass get a oil film haze on it and you figure it is empty. Also there should be a 1/16 thick gasket under the HS top cover, the gear selector shafts have an O-ring that wears out. The oil labyrinth on the main spindle front cover get plugged with crud and doesn't drain. Or someone had it apart and did not install it with the drain hole down It also may have a oil seal and not the labyrinth . One more thing do you have the machine level? I see from the spindle drawing above it has a labyrinth and it would leak if the headstock in higher then the tail stock. If the Taails stock leaks pull it apart and look to see if there is white felt placed in the oil reservoir on the bottom slide way so it lets the oil wick out slowly
 
Last edited:
A very nice piece of heavy metal, enjoy.
 
Do you know if the leak is constant or only when under power? I have a leak in my 13 x 40 hobby-caliber lathe. For the longest time, I thought it was a constant leak because I rarely saw evidence of a leak while using it - only the next morning. Turns out the leak is coming from the area of the seal on the back side of the spindle. It leaks pretty significantly under power, but I couldn't tell that because it generally pooled on the inside of the gear cover - until it was sufficiently full to drip over. Even under power with the cover off, I could not see a leak. Only when I was actually turning a piece of metal does it leak. (It's my understanding there is something called a 'labyrinth seal'(?) that probably needs cleaning/adjusting/replacing that should fix the problem - at least that's what's been suggested to me. I'll know more today when I'll have an assistant actually turn a piece of metal while I'm looking at the uncovered back side.

If possible, if you're not certain where the leak is coming from try looking at yours that way. Might be the same problem.

Regards,
Terry
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top